The Devastation of Pearl Harbor

The attack on the naval base at Pearl Harbor that took place on the December 7th of 1941 was a shocking event for the American public, and had served as the catalyst for the country’s entry into the Second World War. The attack on Pearl Harbor is considered the most shocking event that left a mark on United States’ culture and public awareness before the September 11 attacks. One reason for this is the surprise nature of the attacks and the massive number of casualties. Because of this, most historians and critics, along with the public considered Pearl Harbor as a grave tragedy. This paper goes beyond highlighting how the Pearl Harbor attack is a tragedy; rather, it wants to offer an effective understanding of the circumstances surrounding the attack and the immediate and long-term effects of the attack. Events leading up to the Attack

Prior to engaging in the Second World War, Japan was already facing a myriad of problems. It started to depend increasingly on the supply of raw materials, especially that of oil from external sources instead of domestic production. Even though they were faced with these difficulties however, even if they were lacking these resources and experiencing difficulties, Japan was also at that time, building a successful empire of stable industrial foundation, associated with good army and naval strength. The military became powerful part of the government, and this set the stage for trouble. In the early 1930s, the Japanese Army engaged in many and yet small conflicts with the Chinese in Manchuria. The Japanese had won several of these battles, and Manchuria was captured and turned into a part of the Japanese Empire. The conflicts that took place in the area near Beijing’s Marco Polo Bridge in 1937 were one of popular conflicts that took place; however, whether these conflicts were planned or not remains a mystery up to now. These conflicts eventually became a full-scale war now known as the second Sino-Japanese War, one of the deadliest war that ever took place in world history. The war resulted into the final defeat of Japan in 1945. Before this however, the Second World War taking place in the other side of the world saw a string of victories by German forces, which included defeating Poland and France and the bombing of England. Most of the European nations that Germany managed to capture had their own colonies such as East Indies and Singapore. Japan saw this as an opportunity. Most of these colonies controlled by the European nations possessed the natural resources that Japan was desperate for and because these countries are preoccupied with Germany and what is happening in Europe, Japan felt that it can be the right time to step in and seize some of these resources. In the United States, President Roosevelt sought to stop the expansion of both Germany and Japan, but the Congress and the public wanted the opposite and warned against intervening further. The United States began to provide supplies and materials to countries at war with either Japan or Germany but also kept its space and maintained neutrality to prevent an overseas war from taking place. Meanwhile, the Axis Alliance was formed in September of 1940, which comprised of Germany, Italy and Japan. In 1941, Japan became determined to acquire access to the rich resources of the Southeast Asia and became afraid at the same time that it would be impossible to defeat the Western powers. As such, Japan thought of strengthening its armies so that it can stay in the war. Japan started to enter and seize Southern Indochina, which met strong opposition from the United States. In response, the United States employed an embargo on the exporting of oil to Japan, which had significant consequences to the latter. Japan needed oil to keep its technologies and military running. Without oil, Japan’s industrial and military capabilities can be impeded. Therefore, oil embargo imposed by the United States was perceived as a declaration or an act...

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...PEARLHARBOR
By
Chris Woods
English IV
2nd Period
Mrs. Mantooth
May 1st, 2001
PearlHarbor
I. Events before the bombing
A. Reasons for Japans Expansion
1. The Japanese were severely lacking in raw materials
2. The Japanese wanted to build an empire
3. Japan thought that it must build up its armies to compete with the Western Powers
II. Preparations
A. The Japanese made up a 8 point plan
1. Surprise was crucial
2. American aircraft carriers there should be the primary targets
3. U.S. aircraft there must be destroyed to prevent aerial opposition
4. All Japanese aircraft carriers available should be used
5. All types of bombing should be used in the attack
6. A strong fighter element should be included in the attack for air cover for the fleet
7. Refueling at sea would be necessary
8. A daylight attack promised best results, especially in the sunrise hours
B. The necessary troops were trained and ships were readied
C. Peace talks came to a halt
III. The Attack
A. The attack was carrier based
B. The attack consisted of about 300 planes
C. The attack started at 7:55 a.m.
IV. Aftermaths of the attack
A. American losses
1. 19 ships were damaged or sunk
2. 2,403 people were killed
3. Germany and Italy declared war on America
V. Conclusion
A. The war was stopped by the atom-bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
B. The President...

...On December 7, 1941 one of the worst attacks ever on the United States occurred. More than 3,000 people lost their lives or were injured that morning, and the attack propelled us into war against the Axis Alliance. Through the misjudgment of numerous U.S. armed forces personnel, the Japanese were able to carry out this terrible attack, which crippled the United States' Pacific Fleet in PearlHarbor, Hawaii.
In 1887, the United States government obtained exclusive use of the inlet called PearlHarbor, and the right to maintain a repair and coaling station for ships. The area was established as a naval base in 1908, and then in 1911 dredging of a channel from the sea was completed, across a sandbar and a coral reef at the mouth of the harbor. This made that channel accessible to the largest naval vessels, as it was now 35 feet deep, with a maximum depth of 60 feet. During the Japanese attack, this center for United States military action in the Pacific Ocean was nearly completely destroyed.
Between the middle of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, Japan looked to transform itself from a closed, feudal society into a modern industrial and military power. In the early 1930's, the Japanese army engaged in battles with the Chinese in Manchuria and prevailed. Because of their losses in these battles, Manchuria became a part of the Japanese political system. In 1937, conflict...

... to the appropriate role of the U.S. in this war. As one factor after another combined to make U.S. involvement more of a probability, one factor in particular would prove to be the final straw which would topple the decision making process from one of restraint to one of action. This factor was, of course, the Japanese bombing at PearlHarbor. PearlHarbor was attacked on the morning of December 7, 1941 and would prove to be Japan’s greatest mistake, a mistake for which the consequences would extend throughout the war and well into Japan’s post-war future. More immediately, however, it would serve to drop the restraint which the U.S. had maintained as the war had raged on in Europe for over two years. The U.S. would have entered WWII even if the Japanese did not attack PearlHarbor. The axis powers, Germany and Italy, were gaining to much power in Europe and then Japan decided that they were going to join with the axis powers, this was not settling well with the U.S.
World War II spanned a six year period between September 1, 1939 (the date of Germany’s invasion of Poland) and September 2, 1945 (the date of the Japanese surrender) (“PearlHarbor Raid, 7 December 1941—Overview and Special Image Selection.” 2). After the invasion of Poland, Germany quickly struck again crushing Denmark, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, and France. In June 1940 Great...

...live our lives today. When we have conflicts on other countries soil it does not affect us as Americans as an attack on our own. The outcome is complete pandemonium and will change the mindset forever, thus the attack on PearlHarbor changed ours ceaselessly.
The attack on PearlHarbor will be known as one of the most devastating attacks on American Soil along with the Attack of September 11, 2001. We have fought numerous wars mostly abroad, but without a shadow of doubt the attack on PearlHarbor will never be forgotten, and changed the way the military operates to the current day. Myself being an U.S. Army Warrant Officer, it suits my personality to educate myself on historical warfare that influenced the way we as a military operate today. There is a lot of information and Historical facts about the attack on PearlHarbor, and it seems difficult to outline everything in 8-10 pages, but a general overview of how it affected life in the United States of America can be achieved.
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...PearlHarbor: A Day of Infamy
By
Chris Smith
World War II altered the face of American history forever. This being a war the United States was greatly against and never wanted to enter, They were thrust into the war by a brutal attack from the Japanese on a Navel base located in the pacific ocean on the island Oahu in what is called PearlHarbor. This attack on the base was a direct attack against the United States and gave America no choice but to enter the war they were originally so opposed to, or were they? Did the American government know that the Japanese were planning an attack? Did the United States allow the Japanese kill and wound several thousand Americans and sink and damage several naval ships all for a reason to enter a war our President longed to be a part of? Those questions along with several more have been raised by authors and thinkers throughout history.
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The Attack on PearlHarbor
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LTJG LaVopa
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The Attack on PearlHarbor
The attack on PearlHarbor was one of the worst attacks took the United States by surprise. 7 December 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt claimed it to be “a date which will live in infamy.” On that day, hundreds of Japanese fighters and dive bombers swarmed over the island, destroying ships, air planes, and other assets. After that day, over 2,300 Americans had been killed, 12 ships were sunk, and 160 aircraft were destroyed. The attack took the entire country by surprise, especially PearlHarbor base; which expected nothing to happen on that lazy Sunday morning (“The Japanese Attacked PearlHarbor”). In this paper, I will talk about what events led up to Japan’s attack on the U.S., what occurred and how the attack happened, and what were the effects on the U.S. Navy after the attack occurred.
To understand the attack on PearlHarbor, first we must look at the events leading up to the attack. In the early 1930s, Japan started its conquest to take China. In 1931, Japan conquered Manchuria, challenging America’s “Open Door” policy. (LaVopa) In 1937, Japan continued its campaign to take the rest of China. In 1940, the...

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Tensions of PearlHarbor
The Details of How it All Began
December 7, 1941 is considered one of the most fateful days in the history of the United States of America. For those not aware, this marks the date of the Japanese bombing of United States battleships in the United States’ biggest naval base in PearlHarbor, Hawaii. Many people considered this barbaric attack on the United States a very random occurrence. And because of this attack, the United States had to go into world war two. But what people have failed to realize in today’s word is that there were many tensions growing into this catastrophe dating back to the 1930’s. So the goal of this paper is to show how the Japanese Bombing of Pearlharbor was the breaking point in the growing tensions of the United States and Japan in which catapulted the United States into involvement into world war two.
The tensions between the United States and Japan can be said to be brought back to as early as 1915, with the beginning of a sort of militaristic style of government that Japan brought to the forefront of world politics.1 Even though it really wasn’t a big thing to worry about considering that the United States was the more revered country at the time, the Japanese lifestyle was still kept under a watchful eye of most countries around the world.
Minute tensions between the two countries came about with the Japanese...